1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for fitting various kinds of electrical equipment modules to a panel on a vehicle body side to electrically connect them with each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional assembling steps of overhead modules, meter modules, door modules, etc. in a vehicle, there has been employed such a wiring and connecting method that a connector of a wire harness of the panel on the vehicle body side (for example, a roof panel, a dashboard, a door panel) are connected by hand with a connector of a wire harness of various kinds of the electrical equipment modules, and then, the electrical equipment modules are attached to the panel on the vehicle body side.
Specifically, in case of a sun visor, for example, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, a horizontal shaft portion 93b of a pipe stay 93 in an L-shape whose vertical shaft portion 93a is rotatably supported by means of a stay holder 92 which is fitted to a roof panel 91 within the vehicle is inserted into a visor holder 95 of a sun visor body 94. Thus, the sun visor body 94 is supported swingably in a vertical direction around a horizontal axis.
The sun visor body 94 has a vanity mirror 96 and a vanity lamp 97 provided on a frame 98. When a lid (not shown) of the vanity mirror 96 is opened, the vanity lamp 97 will be switched on to be lit.
One ends of a pair of electric wires 90 are connected to this vanity lamp 97. The electric wires 90 are passed through the above described stay 93 and adapted to electrically connect the vanity lamp 97 on the sun visor body side with a battery on the vehicle body side, by coupling a connector 99 on the sun visor body side at the other ends of the electric wires with a connector 82 on the vehicle body side which is connected to an electric wire 81 from the battery within the roof panel 91.
On occasion of a vertical swinging motion of the sun visor body 94 around the horizontal axis of the stay 93 and a lateral swinging motion (when used as a side visor) of the sun visor body 94 around the vertical axis of the stay 93, the each electric wire is twisted to permit the each swinging motion.
When the stay holder 92 supporting the stay 93 of the sun visor body 94 is assembled to the roof panel 91, the connector 82 on the vehicle body side is first drawn from a fitting hole 91a of the roof panel 91 to an interior of the vehicle, and then, a worker grasps the connector 82 on the vehicle body side with his one hand while holding the sun visor body 94 under the arm, and he also grasps the connector 99 on the sun visor body side with his other hand thus to couple the connectors. Thereafter, while he pushes the connector 82 on the vehicle body side together with the electric wire 81 into the roof panel 91 through the fitting hole 91a, he pushes also the connector 99 on the sun visor body side together with the electric wires 90 into the fitting hole 91a. Afterward, the stay holder 92 is attached to the roof panel 91 and fixed by screws.
However, because the connectors need to be coupled by hand in order to connect the wirings with each other in the conventional connector assembly, fitting workability has been bad. In addition, since an extra length is required in the wire harnesses of the respective connectors, there have been such fears that an unusual noise may be caused by driving vibration, or bites of the electric wires may occur during the fitting work.
More specifically, in case of the sun visor, for example, because the worker must couple the connectors 99 and 82 by both hands, while holding the sun visor body 94 under the arm facing toward the roof, the coupling work of the connectors has been annoying. Thereafter, he must push the electric wires 81, 90 and the connectors 99, 82 into the roof panel 91 through the fitting hole 91a respectively, and therefore, there have been various problems that the fitting work of the sun visor is annoying, or so.
The present invention has been made to solve the problems in the prior art as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a connector in which various kinds of electrical equipment modules can be electrically connected to a panel on a vehicle body side without providing an extra length in a wire harness, fitting work can be simplified, an occurrence of an unusual noise will be prevented, and bites of electric wires during the fitting work can be avoided.
The connector according to the present invention is a connector for electrically connecting various electrical equipment modules to a panel on a vehicle body side, the connector comprises:
a first connector member attached to the panel on the vehicle body side and provided with a housing having an engaging recess, the first connector member containing a first terminal on the vehicle body side, the first terminal having a contact exposed inwardly from the engaging recess of the first connector member; and
a second connector member provided with a housing having an engaging projection adapted to be engaged with the engaging recess of the first connector member, the second connector member containing a second terminal on an electrical equipment module side, the second terminal having a contact partially exposed outwardly from the engaging projection of the second connector member;
wherein, when the engaging projection of the second connector member is inserted into the engaging recess of the first connector member, the contact of the first terminal is electrically contactable to the contact of the second terminal.
Another connector according to the present invention is a connector for electrically connecting various electrical equipment modules to a panel on a vehicle body side, the connector comprises:
a first connector member attached to the panel on the vehicle body side and provided with a housing having an engaging projection, the first connector member containing a first terminal on the vehicle body side, the first terminal having a contact partially exposed outwardly from the engaging projection of the first connector member; and
a second connector member provided with a housing having an engaging recess adapted to be engaged with the engaging projection of the first connector member, the second connector member containing a second terminal on an electrical equipment module side, the second terminal having a contact exposed inwardly from the engaging recess of the second connector member;
wherein, when the engaging projection of the first connector member is inserted into the engaging recess of the second connector member, the contact of the first terminal is electrically contactable to the contact of the second terminal.
According to the above described structure, when the engaging recess (or the engaging projection) of the first connector member attached to the panel on the vehicle body side is engaged with the engaging projection (or the engaging recess) of the second connector member, the contact of the first terminal on the vehicle body side is electrically contactable to the contact of the second terminals on the electrical equipment module side to be electrically connected. Accordingly, the various kinds of the electrical equipment modules can be fitted to the panel on the vehicle body side without providing an extra length on a wire harness. Therefore, a fitting work can be simplified, an occurrence of an unusual noise by driving vibration and bites of the electric wires during the fitting work will be prevented.
In the above described connector according to the present invention, in case where the contact of at least one of the first terminal on the vehicle body side and the second terminal on the electrical equipment module side is formed in a tongue shape, it will be possible to enhance reliability of the electrical connection between the contacts.
In case where the contact of one of the above described terminal on the vehicle body side and the terminal on the electrical equipment module side is formed in a tongue shape, and the contact of the other of the terminals is formed in an exposed conductive foil of an FPC or FFC, it will be possible to conduct a multi-contact wiring and to enlarge a scope of application of the present invention.
Preferably, the above-described connector includes a locking part for locking the terminals to the housings of the connector members, respectively. With this feature, the workability of the fitting work can be further improved.
The above described connector is advantageous in case where the panel on the vehicle body side is a roof panel, and the electrical equipment module is a sun visor unit provided with an electric circuit.